The sound of a flushing toilet at night has been added to a list of human rights violations by Italy’s highest court. The European Court’s verdict comes after a 19-year legal struggle that began when a couple living in a flat near La Spezia claimed that their neighbors’ new toilet was keeping them awake with “intolerable noises.”
However, a lower court ruled against the couple, then they appealed to an appeal court in Genoa, north of Italy. The court ordered an investigation on the complaint, which revealed more information about why the toilet was so loud. According to the Times of London, four brothers who owned the apartment next to the couple had installed a water tank on a nine-inch wall near the couple’s headboard.
The judge was sympathetic to the couple’s inability to sleep well. According to Il Giornale, the noise of flushing “aggravated by frequent night use” disrupts their quality of life, which is a breach of the right to freely exercise everyday routines provided by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court ordered that the brothers would have to move the water tank as well as pay the couple $565 per year since the device was put in place, which totaled $10,760 for violating the European Convention on Human Rights.
In response, the brothers petitioned Italy’s Supreme Court for intervention, but the panel denied their request. According to Il Giornale, the European Court of Human Rights recognized the “right to respect for one’s private and family life.” The judge went on to say that the midnight flushing interfered with sleep, which violated the Italian constitution’s right to health.